


cheeseburgers & cocktails

by flashytonystark, violawrites



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Genre: AO3 Tags - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, College Student Pepper Potts, College Student Tony Stark, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship/Love, Interns & Internships, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pepper Potts Feels, Pepperony - Freeform, Pre-Iron Man 1, Slow Burn, Slow burn Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Angst, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark is a Smartass, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2020-07-23 05:10:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20002846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashytonystark/pseuds/flashytonystark, https://archiveofourown.org/users/violawrites/pseuds/violawrites
Summary: This isnotyour typical Romeo and Juliet romance story.————Pepper Potts is in her final semester of college at Columbia University and all that stands between her and graduation is a final internship.She’s smart and pretty and is surrounded by friends, but she’s also well educated and driven. She hasnotime for romance.————Tony Stark is a recent graduate from MIT and has returned home to start learning the more intimate procedures of his father’s company—the one he’s set to one day run.He likes fast cars and even faster women and to Tony, that’s all he needs in life... until one day a woman stops him dead in his tracks.





	1. don’t stop believin’

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> We are S & E.  
> Besties, writers, lovers of baby animals, and we've been writing together for literal years.
> 
> Extra special shout-out to E for this one though. I came to her with my writing slump problems and she suggested we write something together. After combining our collective genius, we came up with this little slow burn AU.
> 
> Each chapter title corresponds to a classic 80s song and the artists are listed in the end notes for each chapter. Can you guess all of them? 
> 
> Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet our heroine.

Virginia Alice Potts — Pepper for short — carries a 4.0 GPA, takes a full 20 credit hour course load each semester, holds three school records for track in the 500-Meter Dash, is one of only twenty students accepted into the university’s elite, by-audition-only choir, and is one internship shy of graduating top in her class from Columbia — summa cum laude, of course. 

Her drive is unparalleled, or so her college professors say, and mediocre is not a word in her vocabulary. She’s never late, always at least fifteen minutes early, and she’s not one for excuses. For someone as driven and academically focused as Pepper, one would think she wouldn’t have many friends which couldn’t be further from the truth. 

She’s immensely popular, Pepper. She has friends across a wide variety of clubs and sports teams and she has a very active social life. On occasion, she can be spotted out at the bars with her friends, though she’s always sure to have her work finished beforehand; she’s very disciplined in that way, never allowing herself time to relax if she can’t afford to. Getting through college with her degree in business is paramount to Pepper and distractions are not acceptable. 

Maybe this is why she doesn’t have a boyfriend. 

In her defense, at one point she had been dating someone, a baby-faced junior who played left field for the university’s baseball team. He was sweet... until Pepper discovered him buried inside a girl at a frat party right before spring break. She took time to herself just to cry, and then she cut her losses. It was then that Pepper decided she had no room in her life for love, not when she couldn’t afford the distraction. 

* * *

It’s a Wednesday afternoon and Pepper is seated in an uncomfortably hard chair that is placed in front of her advisor’s desk. Tom McSwain is an ancient old man who holds a doctorate from Harvard University’s Business School in Management. He is also Pepper’s advisor. Intelligent and very kind, Tom McSwain has always been there to help Pepper, guiding her down the right path to get to this point in her academic career. 

The man is going through a rather thick folder, “ah-ha!”-ing to himself every so often as he flips through the papers in front of him in a slow and languorous fashion. It takes everything Pepper has not to reach across the desk and take the folder from his hands, to go through the paperwork herself at a much more satisfying pace. 

Opening her mouth to suggest she help him in going through the paperwork, Pepper pauses just as her advisor stops and pulls a packet free, passing it over to her. 

“This one,” he says, letting the packet drop down onto the desk. “I think it’ll be a good fit for you, Ms. Potts. The requirements and application form are all there, and this one is paid.” 

Pepper lifts the pages and scans over the cover page quickly, looking for the company; she doesn’t care about the internship being paid, just that it’s with a company that will make her resume shine. 

Stark Industries. 

Oh, this is the holy grail of internships and Pepper knows it. Howard Stark interviews — rather, his staff interviews as he is far too busy and can’t be bothered — dozens of students each year who apply for the open position and when he finds someone he deems suitable, he offers them the internship. Howard hasn’t found a student in nearly four years for the Columbia internship and the position has remained vacant. 

Pepper Potts is going to change that. 

“I’ll take it,” she states, not even bothering to flip through the minimum qualifications. It’s clear by Howard Stark’s standards that he’s not just going to hand this internship over to anyone, but Pepper isn’t _just_ anyone. 

Lifting the flap of her messenger bag, Pepper pulls out a bright blue folder and slides the paperwork into one of the pockets before standing, adjusting the strap of her bag as she goes. 

“Thanks for this, Dr. McSwain. I’m going to take this home, look it over, and get my application in as soon as possible. The moment I hear anything, I’ll let you know,” she tells him, her tone one that offers no room for argument. 

“I do have one other question though.” 

“Of course, Ms. Potts, ask away.” 

“Has anyone else applied for this position? Or am I the first to take an application?” 

Tom’s mouth goes hard at the question and his brow furrows, calling attention to the deep-set lines in his forehead. His expression is somber as he shakes his head and Pepper can feel her stomach knotting itself uncomfortably as she waits. 

“There’s been one other student express interest, yes. Christine Everhart.” 

* * *

Christine Everhart. That _bitch._

Christine Everhart is the one person she absolutely cannot stand. A journalism transfer student from Brown, Christine is a loud and outspoken, young twenty-something who gets her hair color out of a box. Pepper also swears she’s trying to run her into the ground simply because she feels threatened. 

It’s maddening, dealing with the competition from Christine, as she’s not even there for a degree in business, she’s a journalism major — she decided at the last minute to tack on a minor in business studies right before the cutoff date last semester and it’s been hell ever since. 

If what her advisor said is true, Pepper will have her work cut out for her, that much is obvious. Between studying for finals and the general stress from this internship, she’s not sure how she’s going to handle the interview process, should she get that far — which she will, because she’s Pepper Potts. 

Everything is coming to a head and Pepper can feel the stress starting to settle into her bones like a cold snap in the middle of January, determined to stay. She skips dinner with her friends, opting for a microwaveable can of soup that tastes more like the tin can it was packaged in, instead of chicken noodle. 

At any rate, that is what she settles for as she sits down to immerse herself in the requirements and job description for this internship. It sounds daunting, almost like this position was created just so Howard Stark could watch young hopefuls like herself fail. 

_“You’re going to do wonderful things, honey. I’m so proud of you,”_ her mother had said years ago when she’d first got accepted into Columbia. Her mother has always been her biggest fan and she’s the driving force behind almost all of Pepper’s decisions. If she’s ever unsure of something, she asks herself what her mother would think and then makes a decision from there. 

There is no room for losing out on the internship of her lifetime; this program could skyrocket her career to new heights and Pepper knows it. She craves the chase for such an extraordinary opportunity and she will be damned if she fails. Failure is never an option, not to Pepper. 

In her best penmanship, Pepper fills out the seven page application, complete with an essay question response that required a separate sheet of her own paper. Because she skipped dinner, there is still enough time to get the application to the student mail center where it will be promptly delivered to the desk of Howard Stark at Stark Industries. 

She slips on her running shoes after changing into an oversized tee and jogging pants. Her hair is pulled high into a ponytail and a drawstring bag is secured over her shoulders, her wallet, keys, and application inside it; if she’s going to be out, she might as well make use of her time and go for a run, try and relieve a bit of stress by triggering her endorphins. 

* * *

Eight days later, Pepper receives an email from Melody Haymore, the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Stark Industries. She’s requesting an interview with Pepper on Monday afternoon at one o’clock and asks that she email her back as soon as possible to confirm. 

As Pepper sits in the student computer café, her hands shake slightly as her fingers hover over the keys. It takes her a moment, but she manages to gather herself and straightens her posture in her chair — her mother always did try and instill the importance of good posture in her as a young girl — and sends a courteous reply back to Melody Haymore, confirming the interview time. 

As she clicks the send button, the obnoxious sound of a dial tone drowning out the couple a few computers down from her who are arguing, she feels a sense of relief and excitement and nerves all at once. 

Something tells her this is going to be a good move, that this internship is _hers._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Artist: Journey


	2. (you gotta) fight for your right to party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet our hero... or at least that’s what he calls himself.

Tony Stark is not a morning person. He never has been and he believes that if there is any kind of God at all, he never will be. Maria Stark knows this better than most people, and yet when Tony stumbles into the kitchen on a Tuesday morning he can tell that she has something on her mind. She waits until he’s had the first few sips of his black coffee to broach the subject in her own roundabout way.

“Got any plans for the day?” She asks innocently enough. Maria has a plate of salad in front of her so Tony guesses that it must be somewhere around lunchtime despite his caffeine consumption.

“Thought I might go work on a project in the workshop.” He says, keeping it vague. His mind is still not nearly awake enough for him to be more specific than that. It’s how he’s been filling most of his days since graduation and Maria doesn’t look surprised.  
“Oh, that’s nice dear.” She says, but Tony can tell that it’s not all she wants to say and gives her a few moments to continue while he watches her fidget.

“What is it?”

“I was just thinking, you know how your relationship with your father has always been . . . tense.” Maria begins. Tony almost spits his coffee out at the understatement of the year. Howard has been away for two long, blessed, weeks on a business trip and Tony is in no rush for him to return. He doesn’t respond, but she continues.

“Listen, your father will be back from Tokyo tonight, and I just think it would go a long way if you offered to take on a little more responsibility at work, that’s all.” Her words are gentle, but Tony can easily read between the lines.

Stark Industries is going to be his someday. Though he has to admit he doesn’t have much of an interest in it besides being in the workshop, he promises his mother that he’ll at least give it some thought. It’s not as though he and Howard haven’t had this conversation too many times in the months since he finished at MIT. If he had a dollar for every time his father told him he wasn’t doing enough he’d have enough money to buy the company and never have to hear it again.

“I’ll consider it.” Tony tells her honestly. He does truly want to make his mother happy, though he has no idea how he’s going to pull any of this off. Winning Maria’s approval is easy. Howard is a different story.

* * *

Two hours later AC/DC is blaring in the shop of Stark Tower, drowning out Tony’s thoughts as he works on reassembling the red 1967 Camaro that he’s been refurbishing for fun. The parts are spread neatly on a clean cloth on the floor, a contrast to the chaos of the rest of the room. He’s gone almost halfway through their Back in Black album – a classic that he will hear no arguments about to the contrary. 

_She was a fast machine_

_She kept her motor clean  
_

_She was the best damn woman I had ever seen  
_

_She had the sightless eyes  
_

_Telling me no lies  
_

_Knockin' me out with those American thighs_

“Well, well, well. The prodigal son returns.” The voice is loud enough to be heard over the din of his music, and it’s one he recognizes. Tony reaches over to press the stop button on the cassette player before flipping the welding mask up. 

“Speak for yourself. It’s been a while.” Tony says, a grin breaking out on his face as he moves to greet the person who just entered. Obadiah Stane. One of his father’s oldest friends and most trusted advisors at Stark.

“You know as well as I do that when your father wants me in Berlin to close a deal on a new branch I have to stay there as long as it takes.” The two shake hands despite the fact that Tony’s are covered in engine grease. Stane either doesn’t mind or doesn’t seem to notice.

“You’ve been back how long? Looks like he’s working you to the ground already.” Tony comments, nodding towards the files Obadiah’s holding. It’s one of their favorite pastimes, knocking Howard down a few pegs when he’s not there to defend himself.

“Oh this,” He says with a dismissive wave. “These are the applications for the internship candidates we’re interviewing. I’m just delivering them to HR.”

Tony Stark is nothing if not an opportunist. He grabs the two manila folders out of his hands without asking first. “I’ll handle it. You and Howard and HR have enough to do without worrying about picking who you’re going to be babysitting for the next four months.” Tony says. If his mother wants him to take a bigger role in the company then he supposes there’s worse ways to do it than spending an hour interviewing stuffy college students.

When Tony tells Maria later about running into Stane and that he’s decided to take the interviews on she practically beams at him, thrilled that he found something to work on.

He tells her all this just before heading out the door to meet James Rhodes downtown at a bar where the drinks are cheap and the company is cheaper. Howard’s flight gets in sometime in the next few hours but Tony has no desire to wait and greet him when he returns.

There’s at least a few bad decisions made before midnight and by one o’clock they only get worse. But Tony tells himself that there’s still twelve whole hours until he needs to be at work for the internship interviews. Surely he has time for a few more drinks.

* * *

There’s something stuck to Tony’s face when he wakes up. It takes him a moment or three to get past the fog of last night’s bad decisions, which means rolling over, because sitting up or opening his eyes is still very much out of the question. His hand raises to his forehead where he comes into contact with the piece of paper that’s been pressed there. Unsteady fingers peel it off and flip it around so he can read it, but that only helps so much. The words are swimming in front of him and when they finally still he realizes there’s actually only two words in his mother’s handwriting.

**_Interviews. 1:00._ **

How had he gotten himself in to this mess again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Artist: The Beastie Boys


	3. hair of the dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our villainess offers to do a spread on Tony for the university paper... or something like that.

Tony pulls his sunglasses off and immediately regrets his decision. The sun is obnoxiously bright and even the white paper on the table in front of him seems to burn his retinas. Call it the ghost of bad decisions past.

  
“Christine. Everheart.” The letters are blurring together but he manages to read the name off the top of the page and glances up at the girl in front of him. Early 20s. Blonde. Cute. And her resume even says she’s a student at Columbia which is probably what he should be focusing on right now. At least he only has two of these interviews to get through.

  
“Tell me about yourself,” Tony says as he puts his sunglasses back on, trying to take the focus off of himself for as long as possible. Christine crosses her legs once and then crosses them again.

  
“I’m a senior at Columbia majoring in journalism with a minor in business,” she starts. “I’ve written for the Columbia Spectator for the last year. In fact, I’d love to do a spread for the paper about you.” Christine leans forward, resting her elbows on the table. Tony doesn’t respond but she takes that as a sign to continue.

  
“You know, a look at the next generation of businessmen and philanthropists. A real in depth piece.” It’s obvious she’s trying to paint some sort of picture for him. He sips at his coffee and tries not to drip any on his favorite Led Zeppelin shirt as he glances at her qualifications again. It’s just then he realizes that not only has he never interviewed anyone for a job before, he’s never been on the other side of the table either. MIT was only too happy to court him, and he hasn’t exactly been hard up for employment since he finished his degree.

  
“Mhm. And what makes you think you would be a good fit for this position? It’s in the PR department after all.” He won’t insult her by asking if she knows that, but for his mother’s sake he wants to make sure that whoever is hired is at least somewhat competent. Theres plenty of applicants who would say whatever they needed to just because it’s Stark Industries. God knows Tony’s gotten enough eyefuls of Howard’s groupies to see that.

  
“Well, I’m a people person,” Christine tells him. “I think one of my strengths is really bringing out the best in people and making them look good. And I know I could do the same for Stark Industries.”

  
Tony isn’t exactly sure how to take that answer. While the PR department does help make the face of the company look good, Tony has a feeling that this job is going to be more damage control and putting out fires than anything else.

  
“Okay,” he gives her a nod. “And this says here than you’re willing to work flexible hours? There’s a lot of long hours here so we want to be sure.”

  
“Oh, yes. I think you’ll find I’m very flexible.” That makes him look up. Tony blinks a few times but he honestly can’t tell if Christine realizes what she said or not.

  
He’s going to get himself into a lot of trouble if this conversation keeps going much longer, but with the way his head is pounding, he doesn’t think he’s up to that.

“Alright. I think that’s all the questions I have for you.”

  
Tony ushers her politely to the door. He doesn’t think she would be a terrible fit, but of course he’s got another candidate to meet with in a few minutes, too.

  
“Thank you. You’ll be getting a letter from our rep in the next few weeks with our decision either way.”

  
As soon as the door closes behind Christine he rushes back to the table, downing the rest of his coffee in one go and popping a few of the Advil in his pocket with it. His headache has subsided somewhat but he’ll still give himself a minute for the caffeine and drugs to kick in before he interacts with anyone else.

  
He slumps back into his chair, closing his eyes for just a blissful minute. If he stays like that any longer he knows he’ll fall asleep, so he forces himself to open the manila folder to look at the resume underneath Christine’s.

  
What kind of a name is Virginia, anyway?

  
With a sigh Tony stands up and heads for the lobby where this Virginia Potts person should be waiting by now. But as he enters the lobby he sees that Christine is still there as well and she’s talking to someone. Another girl around her age in a suit with strawberry blonde hair. He can’t hear what they’re saying at first, but as he gets closer their voices both rise enough to be easily audible.

  
Tony just catches the end of the conversation, but it’s enough to make him raise an eyebrow.

  
“You’d be better off covering campus frat parties and trying to get into bed with the first guy that looks in your general direction.”

  
The redhead has a focused expression on her face, looking more determined than just about anyone Tony’s ever seen, but somehow on her, it’s endearing. And just a little bit terrifying. Suddenly the pieces click into place and he knows who she is. He clears his throat, trying to get them to go to their separate corners.

  
“I take it you’re Virginia?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Artist: Nazareth, or for you cover fans, Guns N’ Roses


	4. under pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our heroine opens her mouth before she should.

The Stark Industries building has a massive, commanding presence about it that forces people passing by to stop and admire its sheer beauty. Pepper admires it, yes, the engineering ingenuity of it all, but she also knows what this is first and foremost: simply another way for Howard Stark to stroke his larger-than-life ego.

Working for a man with a big wallet and an even bigger ego doesn’t intimidate her in the slightest; she knows she’ll have to work harder than some guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but shying away from a challenge is one thing Pepper Potts does not do. If anything, the idea of working for someone as prestigious as Howard Stark makes her _excited_.

She arrives and is in the building a full thirty minutes before her scheduled interview time, wanting to appear as professional as she possibly can. She takes the elevator up to the 54th floor as previously instructed and checks in with the receptionist sitting behind a desk.

“Hello, my name is Virginia Potts. I have an interview for an internship at one o’clock with Melody Haymore,” she states, clutching her portfolio to her chest.

The woman looks up at Pepper with a blank stare and nods before gesturing to the open space across from her where a few chairs and a lone bamboo plant reside.

“You can have a seat over there while you wait.”

Waiting. That’s the worst part. It makes Pepper anxious to just sit and not do anything, especially when there are a million other things she could be doing to better utilize her time. She crosses and uncrosses her legs twice, her foot bouncing slightly as she keeps her hands folded carefully in her lap.

It’s eerily quiet, the only sound coming from the large clock on the wall behind the receptionist, and Pepper decides that if she has to wait, she might as well make good use of her time and go over her talking points. With her portfolio opened on her lap, Pepper scans over her resume to check for any errors — not that she could fix them if there were any — before flipping to the back of the folder where she has a list of neatly typed out talking points and questions she plans to ask at the end of her interview.

Her talking points aren’t anything spectacular, just things that she knows will highlight her knowledge of the company thanks to the extensive research she’d done ahead of time, and she knows they’ll be sure to keep the conversation going between her and Melody. First and foremost, she is here to snag the internship of her dreams; secondly, she’s here to simply impress.

She’s stared at the piece of paper in front of her for so long that the words are starting to blur together and are no longer making sense at first glance. It’s not until she hears the sound of a door just down the hall that Pepper looks up, her back straight and rigid as she sits up in her chair.

Expecting to see Melody, Pepper quickly closes her portfolio and uncrosses her legs so both of her feet are flat on the floor, ready to propel herself into a standing position the moment she sees the woman.

“Well if it isn’t the famous Pepper Potts.”  
She knows that voice and she shouldn’t. It’s

Christine.

_Lovely_.

“Christine,” Pepper replies coldly, leaning back in the chair, refusing to appear bothered by the woman’s presence despite the fact that she’s suddenly fuming on the inside. She knows she shouldn’t let Christine get under her skin so easily but even Pepper has her own flaws. “I’m surprised you decided to apply for this internship.”

There’s a clear smirk working at the corners of Christine’s mouth as she moves to stand directly in front of Pepper, a hand on one hip as she looks down at her. Pepper knows this is supposed to be intimidating, to make her shrink just a bit into her seat, but people like Christine are the least of Pepper’s worries and she refuses to let this woman use intimidation tactics on her.

“You can’t get everything you want, Pepper. It’s about time someone knocks you down a peg or two and if I can be the person to do that, I’ll gladly take the opportunity.”

Pepper’s expression betrays nothing as she remains seated, looking up at her competition with almost an air of boredom. She hasn’t even been in Christine’s presence for five minutes and she’s already over it, no longer even pretending to smile for the sake of professionalism.

“I don’t think I have anything to worry about,” Pepper says. The sound of impending footsteps reach her ears, but it’s not the sound of heels clicking against the tile, signaling Melody’s arrival, so she pays the sound no mind. 

Out of the corner of her eye she catches the briefest glimpse of a man rounding the corner at the receptionist’s desk, pausing to ask a question. She’s yet to see anything of Melody and figures she has a few more moments to spare, so Pepper gets to her feet gracefully and notices a subtle shift backward from Christine.

Even without heels Pepper is taller, so the extra four inches she’s sporting only add to her towering persona. There’s but a few inches between the two of them and Pepper lifts her chin ever so slightly just as she takes a very purposeful step forward that forces Christine to shuffle backward.

“You do realize an internship of this caliber requires you to have actual skills beyond how fast you can get on your knees, right? You’d be better off covering campus frat parties and trying to get into bed with the first guy that looks in your general direction.”

It’s the quiet throat-clearing cough from somewhere else in the room that catches Pepper’s attention and reminds her that she’s not only in public but waiting for her interview at _Stark Industries_. With a practiced ease, a kind smile graces her features and Pepper turns toward the receptionist with the full intention of asking her when Melody might be ready for her.

“I take it you’re Virginia?”

It’s the man she noticed earlier, still standing at the receptionist desk. He’s young, close to her age, and looks as if he’s just rolled out of bed with his somewhat rumpled hair and poorly knotted tie; the sight alone makes her want to go to him and completely retie the deep blue piece of fabric properly.

“Pepper,” she corrects, only half paying him any attention as she focuses her gaze on the woman sitting behind the desk. “Can you tell me if—.”

“ _Pepper_. Interesting name. If you don’t mind following me down the hall, we’ll be in the last room on the right.”

There must be something about her expression that tips the young man off because he stops walking after only a few steps and gestures down the hall.“You’re here for the internship interview, right? Follow me. I’ll be conducting the interview today.”

“You’re not Melody.”

_That’s stupid, Pepper. Of course he’s not Melody_.

“I know, I’m better looking than you were expecting, right?” His voice is light and even his laugh is warm.

“I’m seriously going to be interviewed by some random _intern_?”

There is a slight annoyance in her voice as she says this because Pepper cannot _believe_ this is happening; one of the biggest opportunities in her college career is hanging in the balance and the one person who can make or break this for her looks like a hungover frat boy who would much rather be anywhere but standing in the middle of Stark Industries. 

Her comment earns her a grin from the man standing across from her and it takes everything she has not to roll her eyes. This is _serious_ and no one seems to be taking it that way except her.

There is a shift behind her and Pepper can feel Christine standing almost directly beside her, buzzing with an energy that she didn’t have before.

“Oh that’s not a random intern, _Pep_ ,” she whispers just loud enough for the other two people to hear, over-enunciating the nickname reserved for Pepper’s closest friends. “That’s recent MIT graduate and future heir to Stark Industries, Tony Stark.”

It takes her a moment, but Pepper realizes all too soon that Christine isn’t kidding — this _is_ Tony Stark standing in front of her. It’s the eyes that give him away, she realizes, and his nose too. She’s never paid much attention before, but now that she’s been drawn to scrutinize his features, there’s no denying that this is the son of Howard and Maria Stark.

Color drains from Pepper’s face almost instantly and her mouth goes into a hard, straight line. Instant regret fills her and she wants nothing more than to be able to shove the last few words she’d said back into her mouth, but it’s too late, and she knows it. There’s nothing left for her to do but to own her terrible first impression.

“Well,” she starts, unsure of how in the hell she’s going to salvage this. “I’ve wasted enough of your time with idle chitchat, I’d say. Please, Mr. Stark, lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Artist: Queen


	5. ramble on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our heroine redeems herself.

Pepper sits at the conference room table across from Tony, her hands folded neatly atop her portfolio as she waits for the interview to begin. Tony is pinching the bridge of his nose, squinting down at the papers in front of him, and Pepper begins to think that he might just be hungover.

“So Virginia,” he starts.

“Pepper,” she corrects. “Please, call me Pepper.”

“Right,” Tony says, dropping his hand to the table to flip over the top sheet of paper. “Pepper. Yes, well, what can you tell me about yourself?”

Reading the room has always been one of Pepper’s strong points and it’s clear that this isn’t going to be a typical interview for her. She leans back in her chair and opens her portfolio, her hands now resting loosely in her lap.

“I can tell you all kinds of things,” she says, canting her head to the side. “I’ll start with the highlights of my résumé and go from there.”

Pepper launches into a brief, yet detailed monologue about her education and extracurriculars, making sure to keep the conversation light and just interesting enough to hold Tony’s attention. Too much focus on educational aspects will more than likely lose his attention, so she tries to channel her inner Christine Everhart — she’s sure that whatever came out of Christine’s mouth was more than engaging.

“I’m also in a sorority — Vice President and head chair of the Rush Committee,” she says, not that her sorority duties have anything to do with her ability to work for Howard Stark. She catches the slightest spark of attention in Tony’s eyes so she stops while she’s ahead and gestures back to him.

“What else can I tell you, Mr. Stark?”

_Are you free for dinner tonight?_

Tony pauses for a moment, trying to fathom a response as he struggles to remind himself that this is a professional interview. He doesn’t quite know how to react to this woman. She doesn’t seem to be intimidated by him even after finding out that he wasn’t just a random person who would be interviewing her. In truth he’s seen a few CEOs be more easily rattled than that. The details of her resume are certainly impressive, something she wasn’t the least bit bashful about pointing out.

“This internship is much less glamorous than it might sound,” he starts, wanting to warn her. Virginia - Pepper, should know what she’s getting herself into before it’s too late. “Long, thankless hours. Probably cleaning up after my father more than you ever wanted to.”

“I understand that,” Pepper says to him, and he can tell she means it. “But I’m not one to shy away from hard work, and there’s no better way to learn than being on the job.”

_Well, then._

“Of course,” he agrees. It seems that he can’t talk her out of working for Howard after all, and he finds maybe he doesn’t want to.

“Do you have any questions for me? Anything about the internship you don’t know already?” Somehow Tony doubts that there’s anything Pepper hasn’t covered in her research, but he’ll still ask.

“Well, you’ve gone over the company culture, but I was wondering how Stark’s recent trade deals with Japan might affect this internship. I’d imagine there’s a lot of press coverage and logistics to handle.”

Tony blinks a few times and takes a sip of his coffee to give himself a few moments before speaking. There is something rattling around in his brain, and he knows that’s why Howard is on his way back from Tokyo, but beyond that? There’s not much.

“That’s true,” he agrees, deciding that’s safe enough. “Your supervisor in PR would go over all of that with you, but you probably would be making copies of press releases, distribution lists, things like that.” He assumes that’s what the PR department is doing when he walks by on the way to the workshop, anyway.

“I see,” Pepper nods, and Tony guesses that response was satisfactory. “We just covered media relations in one of my classes, so this sounds like a great opportunity.”

“Mm.” He decides that a good note on which to end their meeting. “Well, I think we have all the information we need from you. I’ll walk you back to the lobby.”

“Thank you,” Pepper says as she stands, slightly confused. She could have sworn everything was going so well up until a moment ago. Taking purposely slow strides as she follows him, she goes over everything in her head again, analyzing.

They arrive back in the lobby and Tony is more than relieved to see that Christine has disappeared. He didn’t need a repeat of the tension from earlier, even if he had been momentarily tempted to take her up on her offer of a spread.

“Is there a timeline as far as making a decision on the position?” Pepper asks, and if Tony didn’t know better he would think she sounds almost timid.

“You’ll be hearing from us in the next few weeks either way with a decision,” he assures her and she nods back.

“It was good to meet you. And thank you, again,” she says.

Pepper reaches out to shake his hand before heading for the door. Tony watches as she leaves, struck by how different she and Christine are. The decision on who will get the internship is clear to him, but Tony has to push away the thought that although Pepper is clearly the best person for the job, he doesn’t hate the idea of seeing her again either.

Tony decides to go directly home after the interviews, rather than taking the elevator down to the workshop, though he can’t explain exactly why. He still has the folders with him, tucked under his arm as he walks in the door. Maria walks toward him from the kitchen looking pleasantly surprised to see her son home at such a reasonable hour for once.

“Hello, dear,” she greets him. The tone in her voice leads him to guess she’s been eagerly awaiting his return. “How did the interviews go?”

“They were fine,” he says, tilting his head side to side in a stretch. Maria gives him time to continue, and then presses on when he doesn’t.

“Fine, that’s all?” Maria resists a roll of her eyes. She knows that this is how most men, including her son, communicate.

“Mhm.” Tony moves around her towards the liquor cabinet for the Scotch before elaborating. “I think I decided on who I’m going to hire, anyway.”

“Tell me about them,” Maria says gently, sounding genuinely interested.

“Well,” he starts, the pop of the bottle a punctuation to his words. “She’s a business major at Columbia and from her interview I’m pretty sure she knows more about the company than I do. Could probably run circles around me.” Maria lifts an eyebrow knowingly.

“Well, if you’ve already decided to hire her then call the girl and put her out of her misery. She’s probably going sick with worry right now,” his mother says, and he realizes that she’s right. It’s not like he’s about to wait for his father’s permission when he knows Howard won’t care anyway.

“Yeah, maybe I will,” Tony says, taking the tumbler and heading towards his bedroom to use the phone in privacy.

Once he’s taken a seat and had a sip, he opens the manila folder marked Potts, Virginia. Her number is right at the top of her resume in bold, as if for him and him alone to use. Tony picks up the handset and sighs, watching the numbers spin on the rotary phone as he dials. She picks up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Ms. Potts?” Tony asks, though he recognizes her voice from earlier.

“This is she.”

“Hi, this is Tony Stark,” he curses himself for saying hi again, and hopes she hasn’t noticed. At least he’s delivering good news and not bad. “I - uh, just wanted to call and let you know that we’d like to offer you the internship.”

“Oh!” Comes the response and he would swear there’s an excited little squeak from the other end of the line before she speaks again. He can hear the smile in her voice. “That’s great, thank you. I would be happy to take it. When do I start?”

And yeah, he probably should have worked that out before he called her, but improvisation is nothing if not one of his best skills. “If you want to stop by HR at the end of the week they can get you the paperwork and then figure out dates from there.” He can tell her that much at least.

“Sure, I can do that,” Pepper says.

“I’ll make sure that I’m available while you’re there so that everything goes smoothly.” The excuse is so flimsy Tony wonders if she can see through it over the phone line.

“That’s - that’s very nice of you.” She sounds surprised, but not disappointed. “Although I’m sure you have more important things to do with your time.”

“It’s nothing. Besides, what kind of interviewer would I be if I didn’t make sure the new star intern had everything she needed?” He shakes his head at himself. 

“I guess that’s true. So, I’ll see you soon?”

“Yeah.”

“Mr. Stark?” Pepper asks after a beat and tony finds himself wishing she would’ve used his first name instead.

“Please, my father is Mr. Stark. Call me Tony.”  
He’s not sure whether or not Pepper actually hears him because she doesn’t acknowledge his not-so-subtle attempt at… what? Flirting? Trying to be more personable?

“You said to stop by at the end of the week, yet you didn’t give me a time. That would be helpful.”

“Right,” he says. “Uh, how about two o’clock?”

“Two o’clock on Friday,” she repeats. “Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Stark, I’ll see you then.”

The phone line goes dead and Tony settles the phone back into its rightful place before scrubbing a hand down his face.

_That definitely could’ve went a bit better, but at least it wasn’t terrible_ , he thinks, standing and tossing back his scotch as he does so. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Artist: Led Zeppelin


	6. don’t you (forget about me)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our hero is late and learns a bit more about our heroine.

Stark Industries is bustling when Pepper walks through the front doors later that week. According to the small digital clock next to the visitors sign-in sheet in the lobby, it’s 1:42 and there is still no sign of Tony.

This isn’t surprising. When he told her on the phone he would be there to meet her, she’d rolled her eyes on the other end of the phone, thinking this _had_ to be some line he used on every new intern that walked through the doors of SI. She figures she’ll humor him, wait around a few more minutes for him to make his arrival, and if he doesn’t show in the next eight—make that seven—minutes, she’ll go to the HR offices herself.

“Wear this and don’t take it off until you’re out of the building,” the receptionist says, pulling a visitors pass from the label printer. She peels off the back and hands it to Pepper who affixes the pass to her blazer.

While she waits, Pepper makes her way across the expansive lobby floor, heels clicking against the tile in a way that says she _belongs_ here. Her eyes flick over the building directory, making a mental note of the locations and suite numbers of both the HR and PR offices, and eventually, she shuffled down a few steps to the large glass case showcasing models of original Howard Stark creations. 

She’s in awe of the things housed behind the panels of glass, of the genius that Howard Stark possesses and how he’s able to make those things come to life with his hands and a soldering iron, and a handful of physics equations. Maybe by the end of this internship, she’ll get the opportunity to meet with him, to sit down and ask him all the burning questions she has.

A quick glance at the watch on her wrist tells Pepper that it’s time for her to make her venture to the HR office, with or without Tony Stark. She takes the elevator up to the 31st floor and looks for the door with the Suite 126 sign next to it on the wall.

It’s far quieter in this area of SI compared to the lobby where men and women were talking idly to each other as they passed in and out of the front doors, disappearing down hallways that went off to the left and right. 

A kind looking woman who Pepper guesses is about her mother’s age, looks up from behind a computer and smiles, a bit unsure as she takes in the young redhead just on the other side of the counter.

“Can I help you?”

“My name is Pepper,” she starts before adding her last name for a bit more clarification. “Pepper Potts. I’m the Columbia University intern. I was just offered the position late Monday afternoon and was told to stop by HR today around two for paperwork.”

The woman tilts her head to the side and continues to study Pepper and she finds herself shifting uncomfortably under the woman’s gaze. She _knows_ she was told Friday at two, had written it down on a bright blue sticky note while still on the phone with Tony.

“Who did you interview with, dear?”

Pepper opens her mouth and then hesitates, wondering if the woman will believe her when she says Tony Stark. She’s suddenly getting the idea that Tony isn’t around nearly as much as he should be.

“Originally I was supposed to interview with Melody Haymore, but met with Mr. Stark instead — Tony that is, I mean.”

“Oh that boy,” the woman says with a shake of her head. She pushes back in her chair and stands, motioning for Pepper to follow her to a door. She’s gone for a moment, and when she reappears, it’s on the other side of the door, motioning Pepper inside.

“My name is Marsha, it’s so nice to meet you Pepper. And what a lovely, unique name. I apologize for the bit of confusion back there, Tony has a tendency to get himself involved in things and only follow through on the first half. He should’ve informed us and Melody that you were the intern and dropped off your file, but he didn’t. It’s probably buried beneath a pile of other paperwork somewhere.”

Pepper follows Marsha down a long hallway and into an empty conference room and gestures for Pepper to take a seat.

“There’s a bit of paperwork we’ll need for you to fill out. If you give me just a few minutes, I’ll be right back with it. I’ll also need a copy of your drivers license if you have it with you.”

Marsha leaves Pepper digging through her bag for her wallet and extracts the piece of plastic indicating she’s licensed to drive by the State of New York. Perfectly manicured nails drum lightly against the card as she waits, and Pepper nudges gently at the carpet with the toe of her shoe, causing her spin a quarter of the way around while she waits.

* * *

Again, why does Tony continue to get himself into these things?

_At least this one is pretty_ , he thinks as he waltzes into the lobby. He’s late, yeah, but not by much. Maybe ten minutes, fifteen at the most, but that’s a new Tony Stark record — even his mother would be proud. He’s also wearing a pair of dress pants, something that doesn’t happen often. He was smart enough to take the time to at least change and run a brush through his unruly hair after being underneath a car for the better part of three hours.

He glances around the lobby, looking for that familiar shock of red hair and pair of legs that go all the way to heaven, and is surprised to feel disappointment settle in his stomach like a rock when he doesn’t see her there waiting. There’s always the possibility that she forgot, but something about this girl tells Tony she doesn’t forget things, not like this.

At the reception desk, Tony casually flirts with the brunette that’s sitting there, surprised that Teresa, the one who usually handles the lobby, isn’t there. That’s fine by him, Teresa is a feisty woman, one who is always sure to make his life a living hell whenever she sees him. Things weren’t always so hostile between them, but after a night of one too many drinks and the accidental slip of another woman’s name, Teresa had been making it her mission to make things as uncomfortable for Tony as she possibly could. 

“Hey Ramona, you see a real pretty redhead come through here earlier?” He asks, taking the sign-in book and spinning it around so it faces him.

“Oh probably. You know her name? Check the book.”

“Already ahead of you, gorgeous,” he says, running a finger down the page until he finds Pepper’s name written in her perfect penmanship. He notices the time she signed in and his brows furrow.

_Who in the hell gets somewhere nearly twenty minutes early_? He wonders to himself, pushing off from the desk. He’s halfway across the lobby, off in the direction of the elevators, when he looks over his shoulder.

“Hey Ramona! Tell Teresa I said hi.”

Two minutes later, Tony is walking into the HR suites and spots Marsha near the back and lets out a short whistle just before he opens the door to the back.

“Marsha! How you doing today? You look lovely as always,” Tony says, sliding up next to her as she continues making copies. He snatches a paper from her pile of originals and recognizes it as one of the new hire forms.

“Stop that,” she snaps, though there’s a playfulness in her voice as she takes the paper back. “You get my originals out of order and Melody will have both of our heads.”

Marsha exchanges the page on the glass for another one and closes the lid before pressing the green start button and turning back to Tony.

“You’re late. Did you bring her file?”

A groan leaves Tony at the same time that his shoulders slump and his head goes back. _Of course_ he forgot the file at home, still on his bedside table where he’d left it Monday evening.

“I’ll bring it by first thing on next week, I promise,” he says, looking back at the woman he’s known since he was five. He gives her his award winning smile, the one that makes his cheeks hurt and his eyes crinkle, and Marsha relents, nodding with a smile of her own.

“I’ll make her a temporary file for now. You’re lucky I like you so much. But next time? Stay out of the workshop so you’re not late.”

Gathering up the copies, Tony bends down and presses a kiss to Marsha’s cheek before swiping her pen and heads off in the direction of the conference room. Pepper is there, just as he expected, though she straightens a little when she sees him standing in the doorway.

“Sorry I’m late,” he starts, stacking the papers on the table until they’re all even. “I was dealing with a few other things and lost track of time. I see you made it here okay on your own.”

“I know how to read a building directory and how to use an elevator,” she points out, leaning across the table to take the stack of papers and pen from his hands. “Marsha told me you were probably ripping apart a car or something. Clearly she was right.”

Tony looks down, incredulous at this woman and her level of boldness. Sure, he’d gotten a quick glimpse of it earlier in the week when he’d walked in on her conversation with Christine, but _damn_ , she really doesn’t pull her punches with anyone.

He’s quiet and takes the seat next to Pepper, which as soon as he does, he regrets. It looks weird, him sitting nearly on top of her when there’s a dozen more chairs open around the table. Still, he can’t get up and move, not now, so he’s forced to deal with the awkwardness. He’s lucky though because Pepper doesn’t seem to mind, or she’s not even paying attention.

“So, uh, your first official day will be—,” Tony begins, though Pepper cuts him off as she continues filling out the paperwork he brought her.

“Monday at 7:30 in the morning until two. I have an afternoon and evening class on Mondays. I’ll work a regular day on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 3:30 to 7:30 on Wednesdays.”

Pepper pauses, her pen hovering above the final line requiring her signature, and looks at Tony.

“You might want to make note of that so you know what days I’ll be here.”

“Okay?” Tony has no idea _why_ he would need to know this, other than for potential dinner date information, and his expression clearly tells Pepper he’s lost.

“Marsha said I would normally report to Melody and the head of the PR team, Tim I think his name is, but since you’ve taken over the internship, I’ll report to you instead of Melody,” she explains before signing her name on the final paper. She caps the pen and straightens her paperwork as Marsha comes back in to collect everything and return her license.

“Tony, why don’t you take Ms. Potts to PR and introduce her to the team? I have everything I need from her.”

This is _not_ what Tony signed up for when he took those folders from Obadiah, not at _all_. He doesn’t have time to handle an internship, he has cars to build and tech to test out. Besides, Pepper clearly has a handle on things and knows what she’s doing. He’s going to have to talk to Obadiah later, figure out a way to get out of this, even if it means disappointing his mother.

* * *

It’s clear Tony would rather be anywhere besides carting Pepper around to the PR offices, but she doesn’t let it bother her, instead choosing to lead the conversations herself once they arrive three floors up and enter Suite 314. 

Tony’s introductions are brief and Pepper finds herself engaged in a thrilling conversation with Tim while Tony passes the time by chatting with some young guy in an office a few feet from where she and Tim are talking. There are brief snippets of conversation that Pepper catches, something about a baseball game and a young blonde who works in Marketing across the hall. She has to physically keep herself from rolling her eyes and does her best to focus on the words coming out of Tim’s mouth.

“I’m really looking forward to having you with us, Pepper. You’re going to be an amazing asset to the team, I can already tell. If you have any questions over the weekend, send me an email. We have a couple of big events coming up, so I’ll be in my office pretty much all weekend long, so don’t hesitate to reach out.”

Pepper thanks him and takes his card, slipping in into the front pocket of her bag before turning to leave. Not wanting to be completely rude, she stops outside of the office she saw Tony enter, and discovers him perched on the corner of the desk, one leg swinging lazily as he talks to the other man — Marcus, according to the nameplate on the door.

“Tony?” She asks, his name feeling weird on her tongue as she lets the professional boundary slip, just an inch. “Tim and I have finished up, so I’m going to get going. Thanks for showing me around and I’ll see you bright and early on Monday.”

Much to her surprise, Tony hops from Marcus’s desk and gestures out the door with his hand.

“Come on, I’ll walk you to the lobby, it’s the least I can do,” he tells her, already out of the office and pulling on the suite door. “And thank you for coming in today, it was… a big help.”

It doesn’t really make sense, but Tony’s going with it. If he seems confident, maybe Pepper won’t see through the fact that he really has no idea what in the hell he’s doing in this building half the time.

The elevator ride is quiet, but not awkward, though Pepper keeps glancing over at Tony like she wants to say something but doesn’t know how to put it into words.

“What?” He finally asks when they’re halfway to the lobby. “Something on my face or do you just like the view?”

“No… you seriously have grease on your face. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed. Here,” she says, almost exasperated as she opens her bag to pull out a pack of tissues and a bottle of water. She unscrews the cap on the bottle at wets the tissue before tightening it and placing it back in her bag.

Despite the fact that the elevator stops, Pepper still takes a step forward and reaches out, her free hand gripping Tony’s chin and holding him in place as she scrubs at the bit of grease across his cheekbone. The elevator doors open and then close again, though she pays no attention.

“There,” she finally says, taking a step back and reaching out for the panel of buttons. “Marsha wasn’t kidding about the car thing.”

The elevator doors slide open and Pepper steps off, tossing the tissue into the trash can just outside the doors. 

“Have a good weekend, Tony. I’ll see you Monday morning,” she says just before the doors close for a second time. Tony remains where he’s been standing before reaching out and pressing his thumb to the ‘doors open’ button. He finds it opens his mouth, too. 

For the second time that day, he searches the lobby for Pepper, though he’s not surprised when he doesn’t see her. She does that, slips in and out of his life so easily and it nearly drives him crazy, this woman he can’t quite get a read on.

She’s different from all of the others and it’s been like a shock to the system from day one with this girl and yet Tony can’t seem to let her go, not yet at least. She may come off as unattainable, but Tony Stark has never been one to shy away from a challenge. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Artist: Simple Minds


	7. mirror, mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our hero and heroine get to know each other a bit more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been too long! Please enjoy!

On one hand, the weekend seems to pass in a blur. On the other hand, however, Pepper feels as if the final two days before the start of her internship are moving at such a slow pace that she’s standing still while the rest of the world seems to pass her by. It’s the nerves, she knows it. She also knows that after the first day, everything else is downhill from there, which is really the only thing that gets her out of bed on Monday morning. 

When she first arrives back at Stark Industries, this time with a permanent name tag waiting for her at the front desk, the nerves are gone and replaced with giddy excitement. Pepper can’t wait to get started, to get her hands dirty in the PR department and show everyone at the company that she, an intern—the first one from Columbia in four years—has what it takes to make it in such a male dominated field. Of course, nothing is going to come easy for her, not in the beginning at least, and this is another fact that Pepper is aware of coming into this internship; she spent the last three months interning at a smaller tech company outside of the city and, while it’s no Stark Industries, it gave her enough for her to cut her teeth on. 

To no one’s surprise, Tony Stark doesn’t grace them with his presence until well after nine that morning and Pepper is already deep underway working on a small project from Tim that’s dealing with the soft launch of a new line of military-grade weapons that Howard Stark wants to present to the US Army and Navy. Tony arrives in the doorway to Pepper’s office and leans against the frame, arms folded loosely across his chest as he takes in the surroundings. 

“Lookin’ good, Potts.” 

The expression on Pepper’s face is one that she doesn’t mean to show; her mother always did scold her for letting her inner thoughts come through in her facial expressions and this was no different. Before she speaks, Pepper rearranges her features into something more pleasant and folds her hands atop the binder of information she’s been looking through. 

“Can I help you?” 

“No, no. Just thought I’d stop by, see how things are going, see if you needed anything or had any questions.” 

“Tim’s been able to answer any questions I’ve had, but thanks,” Pepper says, unfolding her hands and going back to the binder. It’s a subtle dismissal, but either Tony Stark doesn’t get it, or he’s blatantly ignoring it because he steps into the small office and sits in the one chair in front of Pepper’s desk. 

“Listen,” Tony begins, leaning over and knocking over a framed photograph of Pepper and her two best friends in the process. Both of his hands come to rest over the pages Pepper is scanning and her eyes snap to the picture frame that’s still face down where Tony had knocked it over. 

“Careful!” 

“I need you to put this nonsense away and take care of a few things for me. Dad can wait, it’s not like he’s really all that worried about this official release. The Army and the Navy both will sign on for this new weapons line and Dad will be out of D.C. before the ink has even dried on the contract, so all this really is, is busy work. But I have something more pressing that I need you to take care of for me. Actually, a couple of somethings, but it’ll be fine.” 

Pepper’s earlier expression returns and this time she makes no effort to conceal the look she gives him. Instead, she grips onto the sides of the binder and yanks it toward her and right out from underneath Tony’s hands. 

“I think I should take care of this. Tim asked—.” 

“And Tim would tell you the same thing I did if he wasn’t so worried about trying to impress my dad to snag a promotion. Besides, you’re reporting to me now, right? Right. And _I_ have a few things I need you to do.” 

This, unfortunately, is how the next three weeks of Pepper’s life goes. She comes to work, starts in on her assignments from Tim, and, like clockwork, is pulled away from her work in the PR department to do God only knows what. There are, at times, when Pepper wants to pull her hair out; that usually happens when Tony decides to tag along with her. 

It wouldn’t be fair to say Tony completely annoys her, however. There are times when his company is appreciated, though Pepper Potts will never admit it out loud. But, more often than not, he drives her up the wall, and not just because she never gets anything else of i _mportance_ done back at her office. What’s surprising is the fact that everything she starts, gets finished on or before the deadline. It doesn’t take a genius to know that Tony’s somehow involved. 

* * *

“So, Potts, let’s play a round of twenty questions,” Tony says, one hand shaking more French fries into his mouth, the other fiddling with some GPS-like system. 

Inwardly, Pepper is cringing. One, she hates small talk and this _definitely_ feels like small talk. Two, Tony’s feet are on her dash and he’s getting the salt from his French fries all over the black interior of her car. She still has yet to figure out _why_ she has to drive Tony to an investment meeting, but when she arrived at work earlier that morning, she had an email from Howard Stark—well, technically his assistant—and that is one person Pepper never questions. 

“How about we don’t?” 

Tony acts as if he doesn’t hear her and jumps right into his barrage of questions, talking around the straw that’s now in his mouth. 

“What’s your favorite color? C’mon, Potts. Favorite color. Then you can ask me whatever you want.” 

“Blue. My favorite color is blue. Why am I driving you to this meeting when you have a perfectly valid driver’s license? And why—.” 

“Hey! The rules of the game are one question, per person, per turn. You’re driving me to this meeting because my dad knows I’d bail if I didn’t have someone else taking me there. Plus, if someone else is driving me, we can try out this GPS system I was telling you about. Now tell me, how do you like your coffee?” 

There is a very definitive sigh that Pepper allows and she rolls her eyes. It’s going to be a very long trip. 

“Black coffee, three creams and no sugar.” 

“Ah, a simple woman. I like it when women are simple—easy to please that way.” 

This does, surprisingly, earn Tony a look from the driver’s seat and he can’t quite tell if Pepper is scowling at him or if she wants to throw up. There’s a very good chance that it’s both. 

“You, uh, gonna ask your next question?” 

“Is your father even real? Or is he like the guy behind the curtain at the end of the Wizard of Oz?” 

Now this, this gets a laugh from Tony. A real one, one that forces him to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes, and Pepper can’t help the small smile that cracks on her lips as she weaves in and out of the traffic on the interstate. 

“Howard Stark _wishes_ he was the Great and Powerful Oz,” Tony says once he gets his laughter under control. “But yes, he is very real and he’s very dry. Honestly, I don’t even know how he snagged someone like my mom. She’s real too, by the way.” 

“Look at you, already answering my next question,” Pepper says. 

“You should come by sometime and meet them. My mom would _l_ _ove_ you. My turn, right? Uh, how many siblings do you have?” 

“One, a younger sister named Penelope.” 

“Penelope and Pepper. I like that.” 

“Technically, I’m Virginia, but I don’t think I’ve ever really gone by that. Favorite ice cream flavor?” 

“Oh, that’s an easy one. Blackberry. Do you play any instruments?” 

It’s so strange, having this type of casual conversation with Tony, as if they’ve known each other for years. There’s an easiness to it, one that Pepper didn’t believe possible with someone like Tony Stark. Once again, she’s pleasantly surprised by him and realizes that there might just be a little more to him than what the tabloids would rather people believe. 

“Just the piano,” Pepper says. “I started taking lessons when I was six. What about you? Do you play any instruments?” 

“Piano too,” Tony tells her and he watches as Pepper’s head nearly swivels off her shoulders as she turns to look at him, an incredulous and unbelieving look on her face. It’s cute, the way her brows knit together and raise all at once. Her surprise makes him laugh. “And the guitar. Self-taught myself how to play the guitar, but Mom definitely taught me all about the ivory keys. When you come over, you can ask her yourself.” 

“Who said anything about me coming—.” 

“Next question! What’re we on, number six?” 

“Five,” Pepper corrects. 

“Take this next exit. Who is your best friend?” 

“What? No, I need exit 118. This is exit 139, I know where I’m going. And her name is Claire. She’s spectacular and I’ve known her since we were both seven. She goes to Juilliard.” 

“Take the exit, Potts!” Tony says, jamming a finger against the glass in the direction of the upcoming exit sign. “Trust me on this, the GPS is never wrong.” 

“Tony, I swear… I don’t need this exit.” 

“Potts!” 

“Fine!” She shouts, cutting off two lanes of traffic to make the exit ramp on time. She’s silent for several moments before she asks her next question. “Are you more of a cat person, or a dog person?” 

“Oh, dogs, hands down. And Juilliard? That’s awesome! At least you’re not too far from each other,” Tony says, pulling his cheeseburger from the Burger King bag while balancing the small black GPS on his lap. “Favorite candy.” 

“Peanut M&Ms. I also like Lemonheads, they’re a close second. Now here’s the real question—what was the best album to be released in 1987?” 

It’s Tony’s turn to look at Pepper incredulously and he lowers his cheeseburger at the same time that he shifts in his seat to face her, the GPS tumbling to the floor. 

“Did you _seriously_ just ask me that? That’s an impossible question, Potts! 1987 saw great records come out! I can’t answer the question, I just can’t. It’s impossible to answer because there _is_ no answer.” 

“If you don’t answer,” Pepper says, “then you forfeit your rights to ask me any more questions for the rest of this trip.” 

“Potts.” 

Pepper is silent, determined not to answer any possible question Tony may ask, or at least not until he answers her question first. It seems like Tony really might not give her an answer, but as always, he surprises her at the last second. 

“I cannot believe you’re making me blaspheme against the gods of rock, but if I had to pick, it would be a two-way tie,” he says, holding up the hand that’s free of his burger. “Don’t you say a word. You picked two types of candy, so I can pick two albums.” 

“Fair enough. What are they?” 

“Def Leppard’s _Hysteria_ and Guns N’ Roses' _Appetite for Destruction._ Obviously.” 

“I liked _Hysteria._ It was up there with _Pyromania_ , but definitely better than _High ‘n’ Dry_.” 

Is there anything this woman _can’t_ do, Tony wonders as he stares at her almost reverently. 

“I never would’ve taken you for a Def Leppard fan.” 

“Why? Because I wear pencil skirts and four-inch heels and wear my hear in a ponytail even the Army couldn’t scrutinize?” she asks, reaching down for Tony’s milkshake that’s sitting in the center console cupholder. She takes a drink and Tony doesn’t even mention it. 

“Well... yeah.” 

“I do have a life outside of work, you know. Just like you do. Strange, isn’t it?” 

The longer they talk, the more personal the questions become, and Tony and Pepper both realize that they don’t mind it too much. It’s nice to be able to have a normal conversation with someone without feeling pressure to force it. This definitely wasn’t small talk. 

“Hey, make a left up here. I’m… eighty percent sure this is where we need to be.” 

It’s not at all where they’re supposed to be and Pepper knows it. But Pepper knew that long before this moment, she knew it back when he was insistent she take a different exit. 

Taking a left as directed, Pepper pulls off the side of the road and put her car into park, shifting to look at Tony, her arms now folded loosely across her chest. 

“Are we lost?” 

“No we’re not lost,” Tony begins, looking from his GPS to the windshield and then back down again. “We’re just… yeah, we’re lost. You got a map in here?” 

“Glove box. What happened to the GPS never being wrong?” 

“Hush, Potts.” 

* * *

It took a while, but Pepper finally realized that Tony isn’t as bad as the media makes him out to be. He’s a product of his environment, that much is obvious, but he’s a decent human being nonetheless, even when he is driving Pepper up the wall with his crazy requests. He has, at least, gotten better about giving her time to do her work for the PR department—that’s the whole point of her having this internship, after all. 

When she comes into work on Monday, Pepper is met with a PR fire that she hadn’t been expecting and it completely catches her off guard. She doesn’t even get the donuts she brought in as a celebration for surviving her first month at SI sat on the staff room table before Tim is rushing into the room, hands shoved in his pockets. 

“You seen the news?” 

“No, I went home for the weekend. What’s up?” Pepper asks, cautiously setting the box down and turning to properly face Tim. He looks tired, like he’s been up all night running on cold coffee and cold pizza. 

Tim reaches over and tosses a copy of the morning paper down in front of Pepper and she takes a step forward to pick it up, her face blanching when she reads the headline and takes in the accompanying picture. 

_Son of Billionaire Howard Stark Arrested_ _—Charges Dropped._

The words pop off the page at Pepper and she has to blink several times before coming to grips with what she’s just read. It was no surprise to her that Tony Stark was a partier and often found himself in trouble, but this arrest couldn’t have come at a worse time for the company as a whole, not when Howard was set to fly to D.C. Tuesday night for one of his biggest demos yet. 

“Okay,” Pepper begins, worrying at her bottom lip. “This isn’t anything new. I know I’ve only been here for a month, but I read the paper and the tabloids on occasion and I know Tony Stark isn’t a golden child. We just need to get in front of this before things get any worse. Let me make some calls and see what I can do to help.” 

Even as Pepper sits down at her desk and begins making calls, it floors her that the same person she was with on Friday afternoon is the same person that decided it would be a good idea to go to a bar, have too many drinks, and end up in a bar fight on a Sunday night instead of calling a cab and leaving when things got heated. She knew going into this internship that putting out PR fires would essentially be her job, but she found it was much harder to deal with objectively now that she got to actually know the person responsible for the fires. 

“And I can quote you on that? Thank you, we’ll be in touch Mr. Blake.” 

Pepper sets her phone back into its cradle and leans forward, elbows rest on her desk as she presses her fingertips to her temples. From the calls she’s made so far, she knows that the story in the paper has been blown out of proportion which they can use in their favor. It’s still not going to be an easy thing to fix, but they’re gaining momentum. 

It’s the sound of a familiar voice that causes Pepper’s head to rise and her expression is murderous. 

“Pepper, I—.” 

“ _No_ ,” Pepper says, her back going straight in her chair. “Don’t walk in here and expect for everything to go back to normal or for me to just drop what I’m working on. I’m busy working on getting ahead of the fallout because of your drunken tirade.” 

She grits her teeth and takes in the sight of Tony in front of her, surprised and yet at the same time not, that he’s still in the same clothes as the night before as evidenced by the picture in the paper. When he removes his sunglasses, he winces at the light and Pepper can clearly see the dark bruise forming under his right eye and across the bridge of his nose, even as he stands there and sways unsteadily on his feet.. 

“I seriously can’t believe you. You _know_ this is an important week for the company.” 

“It wasn’t my fault! If you could’ve heard the things that guy was saying you’d understand! It's not that big of a deal anyway, it's not like this is going to ruin things for my dad.” 

“It _is_ a big deal, Tony! I don’t understand why you would do something so reckless! You’re lucky the guy dropped the charges or your ass would still be in a holding cell right now. Give me your keys,” she says as she stands, surprising even herself at how demanding she’s being with the man who is technically her boss. “You’re in no condition to drive and I’m not about to let you walk out that door and get picked up for DUI.” 

Even more surprising than that, Tony reaches into his pocket and extracts his keys, placing them in Pepper’s outstretched hand without question. They’re promptly deposited into her top desk drawer and she leans forward, one hand on her desk the other pointing at the door. 

“Go outside and wait while I call someone to come pick you up. Go home and take a shower, ice your face. You smell like day-old-booze and regret, not to mention you look like hell. And while you’re at it, take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror and decide if this is what you want for your future.” 

There’s nothing more to discuss, Pepper is clearly done with the conversation and Tony really could use a shower and a few ibuprofen, now that he thinks about it. He does as Pepper told him to, taking a seat outside of her office door, sunglasses back on his nose. As promised, someone is there in the PR suite to collect him not even ten minutes later and takes him home. 

The first place Tony goes is his bed and falls face first into the mattress, not even bothering to take off his shoes. When he awakes nearly five hours later, his face is throbbing and there’s a bad taste in his mouth. Pepper’s words still weigh heavily on him and he’s not sure why; she’s just some girl, some random intern, but her words strike him in a way he’s not used to. There was disappointment in her words, something Tony’s used to hearing from his father. But never Pepper, the girl he just started to get to know. 

Is this what guilt feels like? If it is, it sucks and Tony wants to get back to his playboy self who cares for no one and nothing. 

He hears from his mother much later that night that the entire PR team was stuck at SI until well past nine and even more guilt weighs on him. It’s an odd feeling—this isn’t something he used to feel bad about—but even the worst people have been known to change. If they can do it, so can Tony… or so he hopes. 

* * *

A bleary eyed Pepper steps into her office the following morning as she stifles a yawn behind her hand, grouchy because she didn’t get enough sleep and the coffee pot in the lounge is broken. 

It’s going to be another long day, and not just because of the mess stemming from Tony’s weekend out; Howard Stark still plans on leaving for D.C. and everything related to that is still in the rough draft stage. Pepper wants to scream and throw up her hands and just _quit_ , but she knows she can’t, so she settles in to attempt a bit of work. 

There’s a coffee cup on her desk that catches Pepper’s eye, and when she reaches out to grab it, she discovers that it’s still warm to the touch. There’s also a green sticky note from her desk drawer that’s affixed to a small bag of peanut M&Ms. 

_Black coffee, three creams_ _, no sugar_ _, and a pack of peanut M &Ms. I_ _’m not good at this stuff, but I hope today is better for you._

_Tony_

_Ps._ _Thanks for the advice, my face hurts a little less this morning._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title artist: Def Leppard


	8. heat of the moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see a much softer side of our hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW. It's been so long since we've updated here!
> 
> So glad to be back with you all and this story.
> 
> Please enjoy the next chapter in the saga of young Pepper Potts and Tony Stark.

For what might be the first time in his adult life, Tony Stark doesn’t snooze his alarm clock seventeen times when it goes off on a Monday morning. He lies in bed, staring at his ceiling longer than he’d like to admit, questioning _why_ anyone would ever want to get up when it was still dark outside. Surely there are better ways to spend time.

He rolls out of bed, if not begrudgingly, and gets dressed, tugging on his favorite Black Sabbath shirt that’s so worn, the lettering has started to erode from the fabric. He opts for a pair of dark wash jeans that surprisingly carry no grease or oil stains and runs a comb through his unruly hair until it lies perfectly tousled. It’s an art form he’s perfected over the years, though he’d never admit it.

Maria is in the kitchen, standing at the toaster while she spreads cream cheese on a freshly toasted bagel. Her face registers a shocked expression upon seeing her only son up and dressed so early that she nearly sets the bagel down just to press the back of her hand to his forehead and see if he’s running some sort of a fever.

“You’re up early,” Maria says as Tony busies himself with getting a coffee mug down from the cabinet. He likes his coffee black, so it’s only seconds before the scalding liquid is sliding down his throat. He winces only slightly at the burn and refills his mug for good measure.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Tony yawns openly and Maria hands him the plate she’d been fixing for herself before gesturing to one of the bar stools.

“Mom, you don’t have to—.”

“Sit down and eat,” Maria interrupts, already dropping a new bagel into the toaster for herself. Tony knows better than to contradict her and knows an order when he hears one. “I didn’t know you knew this time of day existed. Why are you up so early?”

Tony takes a bite of his bagel and chews thoughtfully, taking the time to chase it with a swig of coffee before answering. Aside from Rhodey, his mother has always been his closest confidante and he sees no point in lying to her when they both know she’ll have the truth out of him by lunch without any prompting whatsoever.

“Pepper gets to work at eight o’clock sharp,” he begins, taking another bite of his breakfast. He talks around the bagel in his mouth despite the disapproving look Maria sends in his direction. “I haven’t seen her since she told me I looked like day old booze and regret.”

Tony had explained everything to his mother, going into detail at how angry and _disappointed_ Pepper looked when speaking with him in her office after he’d nearly landed his ass in a jail cell. Something about Pepper’s reaction had stayed with him for days, robbing him of sleep though he had yet to understand why. His mother had told him it was because he respected Pepper and her opinion.

He supposes that’s true.

“I feel like I just need to go back in and deliver a true apology. For all of it,” he continues, holding out his empty coffee mug in which Maria takes to refill. Her bagel pops as she’s getting Tony more coffee, so he slides from his stool and spreads the cream cheese on thick, just the way they both like it.

“Here, I’ll trade ya,” Tony says, offering her the plate with one hand and reaching for his coffee with the other. As he rounds the corner of the island to sit back down, Maria nods.

“I’m proud of you for coming to that conclusion by yourself,” she begins. “And I would suggest, as your mother, that you see what you can do to help the department get caught up on things instead of working on the Camaro today.”

There is a look on Tony’s face that says he doesn’t quite trust his mother’s judgment in that moment and Maria can’t help but laugh.

“People talk to me, Tony. I know what you do when you’re not home sleeping. I can’t force you to offer your help, but I think it would be a nice gesture to everyone.”

“Yeah, I guess I could do that,” Tony mumbles, already thinking about the new parts for the car that had come in two days prior. But if it will make his mother happy, and possibly even Pepper, he would be stupid not to offer his help, even if it’s running papers across the building. If anyone else had made the suggestion he would have hurled profanities at them, but there’s something about his mother that makes him take it seriously.

“Your father and I worry about you, Tony.”

Maria’s words earn her a scoff and an eye roll from her son, reminding her that while he’s no longer a teenager, he’s still a young man trying to fight his way through an ever-changing world. She sighs and sips on her coffee, giving Tony time to reign in his attitude before she continues.

“I don’t pretend that you and your father get along, but I can assure you he’s worried. _I’m_ worried, Tony. I want _you_ to want better for yourself. No more speeding tickets or traffic violations, no more bar fights. You can do that for us, right? If not for your father, do it for me. Do it for Pepper and the entire PR team,” she adds.

These talks aren’t anything new to Tony, but he can see the sincerity and hope in his mother’s expression and he so badly wants to make her proud. She has always been his number one fan, even when he royally fucks up, and he loves her for it.

“It’s really not fair how you do that.” Tony slides from his stool, carrying the plate and empty mug to the sink where he promptly rinses both out of habit, just like Maria had shown him when he was younger.

“Do what?” Maria asks with a knowing smile, grinning even more when her son wraps his arms tightly around her, his chin resting on her shoulder. She squeezes hard, running her hand up and down his back slightly as Tony mumbles out a response.

“How you always make me want to do the right thing. No mother should have that kind of control over her son.” The teasing is clear in Tony’s voice and Maria squeezes him that much harder.

“That’s one of the things they teach us in Mom School,” she explains, pulling back as Tony presses a quick kiss to her cheek.

As he pulls away, a white box with a hot pink ribbon catches his eye on the back counter and he points to it.

“That’s a box of those ridiculously overpriced chocolates Dad always buys you when he gets home from a long trip, isn’t it?”

Maria turns in the direction Tony is looking and nods when she sees what he’s talking about.

“Mhm, he brought them to me when he got in late last night, you’d already gone to bed, I think. Why?”

“Any idea when the store opens?”

“Not until noon. Do you need them for something?”

“No I just . . . I think Pepper would like a box. You know, it might be a nice gesture or something. I dropped off coffee and her favorite candy last week, but I feel like someone like _her_ deserves chocolate like _that_.”

Tony has no idea whether or not that’s the most intelligent idea, taking chocolate to the pretty young intern he’s in charge of, but it’s something he wants to do and he meant it when he said Pepper’s the kind of girl who deserves such high-end chocolate. He’s not even sure if she _likes_ chocolate, but in his experience with girls — and he’s had a lot — he can never go wrong with chocolate, flowers, or a combination of the two.

Maria slips past her son and picks up the box, notes that it’s yet to be opened, and hands it to him with a smile.

“Then take these to her, I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”

“I’m not taking your chocolates to Pepper, that’s cheap. And rude to you. Besides, I’ll never hear the end of it from Dad and I’m not here for that,” he tells her with a wave of his hand, trying to give his mother the box back. “I can just go this afternoon and take them to her Wednesday instead, it’s fine.”

“You can and you will take them. Tell her it’s a gift from me for putting up with you. There’s no need to worry about your father. If he asks, I’ll tell him your Aunt Peggy and I ate them all. She flies in this afternoon from Europe and we have lunch plans.”

“Have I told you how much I love you lately?” Tony asks, leaning in to press another kiss to Maria’s cheek. “Tell Aunt Peggy I said hi and to stop in at the workshop to check out the progress on the Camaro . . .”

“. . . That you’re not going to work on today,” Maria says by way of a gentle reminder to their previous discussion.

“Right. No Camaro today. Got it. Hey, before I go, what kind are these? You know, just so I don’t act as surprised as she does when she opens them.”

“They’re those chocolates that have fresh fruit in them. It’s chopped up rather fine, but it tastes delicious.”

“Interesting. I don’t know why anyone would want to ruin perfectly good chocolate with fruit of all things, but I guess I’m not the one eating it, so to each their own. What kind are these?” He asks, giving the box a gentle shake.

“Dark chocolate strawberry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Artist: Asia


	9. gimme three steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our heroine starts compartmentalizing and makes some after-work plans.

It’s been a long week and the lack of sleep is finally starting to catch up with Pepper. No one told her when she took this position how difficult it was going to be as she juggles both work and school. Granted, most internships don’t involve a boss who is arguably the world’s most intelligent — and moronic — genius either.

The thought of Tony is enough to sour her stomach and Pepper all but forces herself to think of _anything_ else: distribution lists, press releases, the annual report she’s been slacking off on finishing. _Anything_ is better than thinking of Tony — correction, Mr. Stark.

It’s something she’s been needing to work out, a feeble attempt at putting the boundaries between them back into place despite the fact she can’t remember where those boundaries even were in the beginning. Pepper can admit it: she got too involved. It’s always been in her nature to see the best in people, to try and push them to see the best in themselves. It’s part of what makes her so good at her job. But Tony Stark is nothing more than another one of her over-zealous attempts at changing a man. The only difference is things are just a bit more complicated with him than anyone from her past . . . since technically he’s her boss.

“God, Pepper,” she mumbles to herself as she slumps lazily in her chair. It’s nearly impossible for her to focus and it’s not helping any that the numbers on her computer screen are blurring in front of her.

She pinches the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb before making the decision that she just needs a bit of coffee in her system to help her focus on her work instead of the fact that she tried to be friends with Tony Stark of all people.

Pepper feels bad when the thought pops into her head. Tony isn’t a bad person, he’s inherently good with a bright smile and a sense of humor that surprised even Pepper. He’s intelligent and boasts about grand ideas for his future that she doesn’t doubt he’ll make happen. When he’s not trying to screw up his life, he’s admirable. Even she can see that. There’s no reason for him _not_ to have friends and maybe, if the situation was different, Pepper could be his friend. But it’s not. She’s still an intern and he’s still the one who hired her. She knows it still counts even if he was hungover at her interview. And on her first day. She doesn’t even like to _think_ about the fact that he’s Howard’s son — you know, the CEO who could give her a great recommendation and jumpstart her career? That’s just asking for trouble she doesn’t need.

There’s a small break room just off the PR Suite that is home to a coffee pot, a refrigerator, toaster, and a small microwave. Three, maybe four people at the most can fit inside of it comfortably, so pepper is beyond relieved when she realizes that it’s empty. Too many people in the small space makes her feel claustrophobic which is part of the reason why she tries to avoid it as much as she can. Today, however, she really needs the coffee.

“Pepper?”

Her back is to the door, but the voice is all too familiar and for whatever insane reason, Pepper feels tingly all over even though she shouldn’t. When she turns around, she can’t help but to smile and her coffee is momentarily forgotten on the countertop next to her.

“Aaron, hello!” Pepper says in greeting, moving forward to wrap her arms around the man in front of her. “It’s so good to see you. How was the trip to Belize?”

Aaron Richardson is the newest assistant to none other than Howard Stark. He’s a year older than Pepper and has been working at Stark since his freshman year in college, staring off by doing grunt work in the mailroom. His efficiency and organization caught Howard’s attention when Aaron volunteered to help out with an event in D.C. after half the committee had fallen ill with food poisoning. He’s been working directly for Howard nearly six months now and he was one of the first people Pepper got to meet when she started.

With a boyish charm and an extensive knowledge of cars and U.S. History, it’s hard to imagine Pepper _not_ being friends with him. They have a lot in common, after all. He looks a little worse for wear today and she figures it has something to do with the rigorous pace of Howard’s latest string of meetings and negotiations in a Belize, not to mention the jet lag and catching up on the work he missed while he was gone.

Aaron squeezes her tightly before pulling back, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dress pants and rocking back on his heels.

“Not bad, the weather was great. The boss was sure to keep me busy, but I really think things are going to end up being in Howard’s favor. Everything went really well and from what I can tell,” he says, dropping the volume of his voice a bit. “If Howard gets what he wants, he’ll be down there for a groundbreaking ceremony on a new production plant in less than nine months.”

“Sounds like you had a _very_ successful trip then.”

“Sure did. And when things go well, Howard is always in such a better mood with everyone.”

It’s that innocent statement that has Pepper’s thoughts wandering back to places it shouldn’t be, back to Tony, and she allows herself only a few seconds for wonder how he’s been doing. It’s been nearly a week since he last showed up to her office and she sent him off. As nice as it’s been to get things done sans constant interruptions, it’s also been a bit . . . quiet, something she’s not used to. She’s _almost_ missing it.

“Earth to Pepper. Where’d you go?”

Aaron is smiling at her, all teeth and sparkling green eyes. She realizes that she’s blushing and quickly turns away to grab her coffee, thankful for some sort of distraction.

“Sorry,” she says, mouth on the lip of her cup. “You mentioned Howard and I immediately thought back to the annual report I’m trying to put together. Oh god, please don’t tell me that’s not why you’re here. I’ve already asked for one extension, I know, but I promise to have the PR portion completed today so it can be sent to finance.”

“Slow down, that’s not why I’m here,” he says laughing. “I actually came to drop off some things to Tim and noticed your office door was open, but you weren’t there. So I went . . . investigating and lo and behold, I found you at the coffee pot.”

“You know me, I rarely need an extension but with everything that’s been going on, I fell behind. It didn’t help any that I had to miss an entire day last week for an exam. I spend so much of my time here that sometimes I forget I’m trying to finish my final semester, too.”

“You’re taking what, four classes?”

“Yeah, but they’re pretty easy.” She says, automatically self-deprecating. “Got all the hard ones out of the way early. This extra year has killed me, but in December, I’ll be walking out with a dual Bachelor’s and Master’s degree.”

Aaron raises an eyebrow at this, clearly impressed with this latest tidbit of information.

“Dual degrees, huh? That program is ridiculously complex. I applaud you for finishing it in just five years.”

“Five and a half,” she corrects, sipping her coffee as she does so. “I couldn’t get into Fundamentals of Business and Advanced Macroeconomics when I wanted so it pushed things back a little more. Can’t really complain though.”

“I’m not going to be surprised when Howard offers you a job once you graduate.” Aaron says. “He’d be stupid to let you go anywhere else. But he did hire you for this paid internship position that’s been vacant since I’ve been here, so that’s something.”

“Actually, Howard wasn’t the one who . . . never mind, semantics,” she says, doing her best to brush off the comments. There Tony goes again, wriggling his way into places he should be — her thoughts.

“It’s been so good to see you, Pepper. But if I don’t get back upstairs, security is going to come looking for me,” Aaron says with a comical glance over his shoulder.

“Go on, I understand completely. I have that annual report to work on. Let’s try and have lunch together or something.”

“Actually,” Aaron says, pausing on his way out the door. “Why don’t you come out with me after work. We’ll go get a drink. I know the perfect little place, you’ll love it, I promise. It’s very . . . you. What do you say?”

The request catches Pepper so off guard and she’s not sure how she should answer, but the hopeful smile Aaron is giving her is all it takes to make up her mind.

“I’m off at six.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Artist: Lynard Skynard


End file.
